I don't know what she had expected me to say. She kept her face in profile, and didn't let me see what it was showing. "I'm here on business. I hear you're a good man, these days, for the job I've got." She twisted the words like a knife. All right, if she wanted it that way, she'd get it. "So they tell me," I said. "Fifteen thousand for a month's work." She said it quietly, without any build-up. Maybe she figured fifteen thousand didn't need one. I sat there for a minute, not saying anything, but thinking hard. What kind of a setup was she offering me? Was this the big job that was floating around? There's usually a sure way to find out. When someone offers you a blind deal, argue. Maybe they'll get mad, or scared you won't take it, and spill something. "No, thanks," I said. She frowned. "Don't try haggling with me, Ash. I can get somebody just as good for less." "I don't doubt it. You could probably get three. That's why I don't want any part of it. It's sucker bait." She looked at me for the first time, mouth twisted. "Since when does a hired gun like you turn down that kind of money? The job's worth it, believe me." That hit me. But I couldn't afford to get touchy. "Probably is. But with standard pay at three thousand a month, plus bounties and commissions, this little errand of yours, whatever it may be, must break so many laws it could land me in a death house," I said, watching her eyes. It didn't add up. Nothing added up. Why had she picked me, in the first place? I had a reputation as one of the better gunnies, sure, but there were at least twenty guys I'd never draw against, if I could help it, and four or five of them were available. Because she'd known me? And this job--what kind of hanky-panky was going on at these prices? I watched her eyes acquiring dangerous highlights. The temper that went with that hair was beginning to stir. "Do you want to get in on the biggest deal that's ever been pulled off in space or don't you?" she said. "Or are you going to chicken out?" she added contemptuously. I let it slide off my shoulders. "I don't know," I said. I wanted to get a chance to really talk things out with her, and this wasn't the place for it. "Anyway, this is no place to talk business. Walk out of here as if I'd turned you down, and go up the street. I'll catch up to you." "Okay." She got up and walked out. "Sorry, Honey," I called after her, loud enough for everybody to hear. A snicker went up. I cut it off with a look at the characters lined up against the bar, and got back to my drink. I finished it casually, put it down, paid, and walked slowly to the door. I let everybody get a good look at me turning down the street in the opposite direction from the one Pat had taken. I ducked into the first cross street and moved swiftly over to the alley that paralleled the street that Pat was on. I was thinking all the way.